#St. John’s game postponed due to COVID-19 issues

St. John’s 12-day layoff is going to be even longer.

Saturday’s game against DePaul was postponed less than a half hour before tip-off due to COVID-19 issues within the Red Storm program.

“While we’re obviously disappointed at not being able to play today, postponing the game is unequivocally the right thing to do,” athletic director Mike Cragg said in a statement. “The health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staff has always been our top priority and we saw no reason to take any unnecessary risk. We thank Coach Leitao, the DePaul administration and the BIG EAST Conference for their cooperation in this manner.”

According to sources, there were testing irregularities related to a positive test and it is uncertain if St. John’s will enter into a pause. It will depend on follow-up tests and university doctors. There was some thought to pushing the game back later in the day, but DePaul, which has already had to pause three times this year due to positive COVID-19 tests, resisted, sources said.

Prior to the news, St. John’s had managed to avoid any positive tests since players returned to campus in late July. But players recently were allowed to go home for a few days to see family before quarantining upon their return and going through rounds of testing. St. John’s was initially expected to play Villanova on Dec. 30, but coach Jay Wright suggested they push back the game to give both teams a chance to see family during the holidays.

If St. John’s does go into a pause, which would likely last 14 days based on state mandates, it could go a month without playing a game. The Johnnies’ last contest was against Georgetown on Dec. 20.